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WASHINGTON — Alyce Dixon is showered with greetings and blessings from other residents and
staffers at the VA Medical Center as her wheelchair rolls through the halls. She’s called the “
Queen Bee” at the medical center, where she has lived for 10 years.

Dixon — one of the first African-American women to serve in the Army — continued her spitfire
assault on a second century of living with a birthday bash on Tuesday, celebrating her 105
years.

In a sunny, balloon-filled community room, a jazz combo played, District of Columbia Mayor
Vincent C. Gray sent birthday wishes and — at Dixon’s request — everyone in her geriatrics unit
dined on shrimp and crab cakes. As usual, Dixon pressed everyone to supply her with some new
jokes.

Dixon, who was born on Sept. 11, 1907, has lost family. She lost a leg to a nasty infection. She
thinks she may have lost an inch in height over the years, leaving her a feisty 4-foot-9. But she
has not lost any zest for life, or her sharp tongue.

On aging well: “I tell the girls all the time: ‘Put on your jewelry! Look good! Be active! Be
positive!’ ”

On politics: “You got a bunch of stupid up there running the country.” (President Obama
excepted, she said.)

On health: “I smoked for 40 years. Drank, too.”

On speaking her mind: “I’m still here, 105 years old. I can talk, fuss and cuss, and do
everything. What do you want to know?”

Part Jewish and African-American, Dixon was born and reared in a mixed Irish and Jewish
neighborhood in Boston. She joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1944 and became one of the first women
dispatched overseas. After arriving in Eng-land with the 6888th Battalion, a Postal Service
division, she soon was typing the camp’s publication and writing a column, “Waccy Chatter.” Her
next assignment took her to France, where several battles had led to a massive pileup of
undelivered mail. Her unit soon reduced the backlog.

Along the way, she married a builder named George Dixon, and they lived in Washington. She had a
son who died in infancy. Later, the couple divorced.

Dixon said she has but one regret: “I wanted to be tall.”

And the secret to living long and well?

“Enjoy this life while you’re living,” she told the partygoers. “You got this one life to live —
live it to the fullest. And be kind to people. Remember that there’s always someone who could use
you, who could use your help. Try to share some of the things you have that they don’t have. Try to
help someone along the way.”